Drew Hollingshead – Sports Updatehttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate
Blogging special sports events and storiesThu, 27 Oct 2016 18:43:48 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.151022412Positional breakdowns: Quarterbackshttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/08/positional-breakdowns-quarterbacks/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/08/positional-breakdowns-quarterbacks/#commentsTue, 09 Aug 2011 18:12:33 +0000http://blog.chron.com/cougars/?p=3104Today we close out the positional breakdowns of the Houston Cougars 2011 squad with a look at the quarterbacks. As coach Kevin Sumlin has said several times throughout this offseason, the Cougars have gone from the least experienced quarterback team in the country to the most experienced quarterback team in the country in less than a year.

You can only play one quarterback at a time (unless you count those illegal A-11 offenses or trick play formations), so quarterback depth can be a tricky thing. Sure everyone would love to have it but in major college football it can be difficult because everyone wants to play. As quarterbacks coach Kliff Kingsbury said, a lot of times if a quarterback doesn’t start in his first or second year, he’s looking at transferring.

Still, the Cougars are in a unique position heading into this season.

“You better have at least three ready,” Kingsbury said. “We have that now. Three guys that have played in games and played well in games. So we’re going to see if we can keep one healthy but if it comes down to it, we feel like the depth there is really going to be a strength for us.”

It took a 5-7 season, two major injuries and a favorable NCAA ruling but the Cougars built up quarterback depth in a short amount of time and have plenty heading into this season.

Of course, the starter is Case Keenum. The Abilene Wylie product has a long list of accomplishments that don’t necessarily need to be re-hashed here except for the fact that some NCAA records may fall if he stays healthy. Physically, Keenum said he is fine and has recovered from the torn right ACL he suffered last September against UCLA at the Rose Bowl and Kingsbury said he’s excited to have him back.

“It’s a big deal,” Kingsbury said. “He’s a coach on the field. Last year with David, we weren’t able to get him any reps in the spring or meaningful reps in camp. So when he was thrown in the fire, we had to slow some things down and let him just play football. We didn’t want him overthinking. With Case, he’s out there, he’s sees it, he’s been in it, got a ton of reps in it. So he knows what we’re looking for, what we’re trying to attack every snap and does a great job of it.”

As a sixth-year senior, Keenum has a vast amount of experience, especially in the current offense. As for things to improve on, there are some little things Kingsbury is looking for.

“He’s very accurate but we can always get better at that,” Kingsbury said. “And just finishing throws. I think he had kind of a deal last year where he wouldn’t finish his throws. Kind of backpedaling out and getting a little antsy. I just want him to get back feeling comfortable and really work mechanically on being as sound as he can be. The rest, the mental part, he’s lights out at.”

The backup spot is up for grabs between senior Cotton Turner and sophomore David Piland. Turner has been the backup for the last two seasons and also suffered a season-ending injury (broken collarbone) against UCLA. Turner’s numbers have been great when he has played – completing 74.6 percent of his throws for 553 yards and five touchdowns on 53-of-71 passing with no interceptions. He has played in seven games.

Piland, meanwhile, started eight games last year throwing for 2,651 yards (206-of-345 passing, 58.3 percent) and 24 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. He started to come on strong in the final two games of the season, throwing for more than 400 yards in each.

“It was huge just to watch him progress,” Kingsbury said. “About four games into starting he was rocking and rolling. The last two games he threw for 450 yards or something like that. It was just a late learning curve because we didn’t prepare him properly – that’s basically what it came down to. He wasn’t ready at the time that he had to go in and he still went in and made plays. I think the sky is the limit for him.

“I think this spring he really did a better job of getting through his reads, learning the progressions, (getting) better at the checks and taking care of the football, things of that nature. The sky’s the limit. He’s going to continue to get a bunch of reps and we’re going to continue to develop him.”

Again, in terms of preparation, having Piland – then a true freshman who was expected to redshirt – ready to go would have been a challenge. Kingsbury said it’s tough when it comes to splitting up reps in practice to have three guys fully ready.

“I think you’ll hurt all three if you divide them up that evenly,” he said. “Instead of getting one guy really ready, you’ll have three that are kind of ready. It’s hard to prepare for that, especially in this climate of college football where if kids aren’t starting the first or second year, they’re usually transferring. So depth at this position is always going to be tough to come by. I don’t think we did anything wrong. I’ll (just) always have three guys that we feel good about moving forward.”

As for Turner, he was able to participate in spring drills and the coaches expect more good things from him.

“He’s done a great job,” Kingsbury said. “Obviously it was kind of a tough deal on him being a senior and Case got an extra year. But you would have never known that he wasn’t the starter here. Ever since he’s been here he’s worked his butt off in the weight room, studying the film; he’s a competitive kid and every time we put him in the game he’s done well. His stats are better than anybody else’s for the time that he’s played. I can’t say enough good things about that kid. I just enjoy working with him. He’s a good player and could be playing at a lot of schools. I’m just glad that we were able to get him here.”

As Kingsbury noted, they’ll compete for the No. 2 spot.

“We’ll let them both compete and get a bunch of reps and just continue to get better,” Kingsbury said. “We want to have three good ones ready. That’s our goal and we’ll see how it all shakes out. We’re excited about the depth. We have three guys that can run the offense and have a good feel for it.”

After those three comes junior Crawford Jones, sophomore Drew Hollingshead and freshman Bram Kohlhausen. Fans saw Jones participate in the spring football game and he’ll also be on special teams as the holder on point after touchdown kicks.

“Crawford’s done a great job,” Kingsbury said. “He doesn’t get many reps but we put him in the spring game and he ran the offense against the first team defense with the second team offense and I thought he played remarkably well not having gotten many reps. He’s one of those gamer kids that you can put him in a game and he’ll compete and make plays. I’ve really been impressed by him his entire time here.”

Hollingshead hasn’t been left with many reps as a product of circumstance but Kingsbury said he has had a good attitude about it all.

“Drew’s still coming along and you can only play one at a time so reps are hard to come by,” Kingsbury said. “He’s a good kid, does everything we ask and everybody likes him.”

As for Kohlhausen, the true freshman from Lamar High School, Kingsbury said he’s liked what he has seen so far.

“He’s got a great arm,” Kingsbury said. “He can really spin it. He’s a sharp kid and he’s picked everything up so far so we’re excited. We were really glad we were able to get him. He was a highly-recruited kid. So we’re excited about his future.

“He’s got a lot of swagger. He ran a different style of offense than the spread that a lot of Texas high school teams run now, but he’s adapting well and he definitely has a great arm for what we do.”